Locomotion
by Zander L. Jones
Summary: Barry's out for a run when something changes. The Speed Force shows him what he can really do and when he gets back to the lab, the team learns just how dangerous it can be. One-Shot.


**Locomotion**

 **Tried something new! Let me know whatcha think!**

Barry could have counted thirty colors, maybe more, passing by him so fast it could have painted an abstract portrait worth more than Pollock himself. Barry wasn't just running. That may have been what it had started out as but he had moved faster, and gone far past the point of just running. It was as though he was melding with the world itself as he knew instinctively that he was going far faster than he should have been. It had started out as just a run through the city which he naturally tapped into his speed for to go unseen. What he hadn't been counting on was the exciting and overwhelming draw of the speed force, which he had of course felt before but never really gave in to. Until now. And it felt great.

Barry laughed to himself as he felt his heart beat with every step he took. It was more than just running to or away from something. He was soaring, gliding, being. He lost complete track of time because he wasn't controlled by it anymore. His cells sizzled as he left a black scorch across his path, unnoticed by himself. It was as if a light switch had been flicked but Barry knew as soon as it did that something was wrong. It all felt wrong actually. He slowed incrementally and as soon as he did he felt better and better.

He fully stopped near a warehouse, glad for the cover of darkness to conceal his guise. He looked down and realized that even his suit was smoldering. He gulped in some fresh air, putting a smile back on his face remembering the experience he just had. While he soared he hadn't thought once of meta humans or Thawne or any other problem he faced. He would need to try that again. He immediately ran to the Lab, hoping no one had noticed anything astray. He knew they would have been on him the moment his vitals soared.

Still grinning like a fool and feeling light as a feather, he arrived in the lab with a small gust of wind following, ruffling some papers. Only a moment after arriving, having had time to only flip is hood off, was he being nailed to the wall by none other than Jay.

Barry's face didn't connect hard with the wall but the impact was still jarring. "What the hell Jay?"

At the commotion, Joe and Caitlin popped out of their chairs and Cisco and Iris came out from behind the control desk. They all started shouting at Jay but he only turned towards them, silently shook his head, and held up a hand to be patient.

Iris and Caitlin both shot him concerned and questioning glances and Joe's hand never left his sidearm but they stood down nonetheless, for now.

Barry hadn't even realized the exchange was going on, only now had his head begun clearing up from the fog that temporarily clouded it, both from coming down from his run and from the rough shove to the wall.

"How long were you running?" Jay asks, his voice more solemn than any of them had ever heard. Barry squirms trying to throw Jay off but is only held more firmly. Jay sees Joe about to question him again but he stays steady. "How long!"

"I don't…I'm not sure." Barry snarled through gritted teeth.

That answer gave the team pause. How could he not know how long he had been running? How did they each not know either.

"How fast Barry?" Jay asks. Everyone was trying to keep up with the questions, still unsure what they were missing. Barry's thoughts were jumbled. How had Jay known? Right away too. Had he experienced whatever Barry had just experienced? In response, Barry just shook his head, slowly deflating, his shoulders slightly slumping.

"How many times?" Getting no response but needing the answer, Jay slams him into the wall once more, less forcefully than the first.

"Once! Just once!"

Jay's grip eases up until Barry is able to turn and face Jay. But both their eyes never leave the other.

"You need to stop. Immediately. The Speed Force gives you your power, but if you get sucked in, you won't be able to get out before you're ash. Your pupils are dilated, you're having trouble focusing and your chest feels like it's still back wherever you started running, right?" Everyone tensed when they realized how much Barry was actually shaking. Caitlin took a few steps closer out of instinct. Jay continued, "It's all consuming Barry. But it doesn't have to be."

Barry's the first of the pair to break eye contact, shutting his eyes and running his hands through his hair. Jay takes another step back, giving Barry more space while letting out a soft sigh.

"Jay? Barry? What's going on?" Caitlin begins, walking over to Barry who had been slumping further and further down against the wall. She put a comforting hand on Barry's shoulder, guiding him over to his usual med bed. Joe stepped up silently to his other side to help him up.

Barry could hardly think straight. At first he felt amazing after his run but Jay made him feel like a child doing something they knew they shouldn't. How could he explain it to his friends, his family? He just shook his head, glancing at Jay, hoping maybe he could put it into words.

Jay with his arms crossed, heaved a sigh, almost disappointed in Barry. He turned towards Cisco, Iris and the others who were still looking concerned and unsure of the situation. "It's not something any of you can understand. Our speed, it has a pull of its own. When we run, the world instantly melts and sharpens at the same time. Everything means nothing when you're moving as one with the speed force. The world doesn't just move around you anymore, it moves for you."

Jay shakes his head softly and looks back at Barry who looks appropriately ashamed as Caitlin is already hooking him up to the various monitors.

"Barry, I, we had no idea it could be like that." Iris said, stepping closer to Barry who was slowly sinking further and further into where he lay.

After a few terse moments Barry finally spoke up, exhaustion clear in his voice. "I didn't either. I couldn't…I didn't even know it was happening at first. It was just like Jay said, it was like the everything moved with me and for me."

"You're stats are off the charts, I don't think you were breathing properly Barry. Your O2 saturation is still in the low 80's. I'll have to run through a few tests to see if there's any other damage done from going so fast." Caitlin said, a hand resting lightly on Barry's forearm. "You should get some rest first though."

Cisco came closer too now. "And don't think your nap is gonna get you out of trouble for ruining my suit either." He said, looking pointedly to Barry's boots and calves that were darkened and singed beyond repair.

Barry looked droopily up at Cisco, hardly able to keep his eyes open at this point. He smiled softly when he saw that Cisco was just giving him a hard time.

"Barry. You need to decide, if this life is worth moving slow for. Because if you decide it's not, you'll be lost to the motion." Jay said from off to the side where he still stood.

Barry made sure to make eye contact when he nodded his head silently, both in answer and thanks. With a nod in return, Jay left the lab.

"Get some rest Bar. We'll help you however we can." Joe said, running his hand through his son's hair as he drifted off to sleep from the exhaustion of the day. Barry didn't dream of running or the speed force. Instead he dreamt of sitting down with his friends and family around a dinner table, laughing, smiling, and living life at normal speed.


End file.
